It has been nearly 17 years since the unforgettable Tiananmen Massacre occurred in 1989. Many are unaware of a minor episode, where three young men from Hunan province, threw eggs on Mao’s glorious picture in Tiananmen Square. For this, all three were sentenced to long prison terms.
I took a break today (February 27) and surfed the internet, where I saw the following news:
Former Hunan fine arts editor, Yu Dongyu, was released from prison on February 22. Yu’s sister said that Yu’s ability to think and speak was severely impaired from long-term torture in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) prison.
Yu’s sister, Yu Rixia said, “He is like a three- or four-year-old child now. He was fine when we previously visited him. We all hope that he will improve, that he will become himself again, but we have no idea how he became like this.”
When Lu Decheng, who was released in 1998, visited Yu at the Hunan First Prison in 2001, Lu saw a large scar on the right side of Yu’s head. Lu was told that Yu had been tied to a power pole, under the heat of the sun continuously for several days.
According to Yu’s sister Yu Rixia, Yu Zhijian, who had been in the same prison before, was arrested by the police and is still in custody when he visited Yu a few days ago.
The wife of dissenter He Depu, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2002, said, “I believe that the CCP is capable of doing anything it wants to do – torture, kill or make one insane. If they cannot cripple your will, they will torture your body. These are their methods.”
The three people: Yu Donghu a Hunan teacher, Yu Zhijian an automobile company worker, and Lu Decheng were arrested by the CCP for throwing eggs and paint on Mao’s portrait that hangs on the Tiananmen Gate Tower during the 1999 Tiananmen Square student democratic movement.
Experts believe that the early release of Yu Donghu, who has been imprisoned for 17 years, may be related to President Hu Jintao’s U.S. visit. This is a CCP smoke-screen to relieve international diplomatic pressure on its human rights violations and conceal its image of suppressing freedom of speech.
After reading this news article, I immediately recalled that at an assembly a few years ago, a speech was given by the current Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou in Taiwan. Many factions who had differing opinions threw eggs at him. Ma’s head, face, and chest were covered with egg white and egg yokes. Ma continued with his impassioned speech. Of course, those who threw the eggs did not suffer any consequences.
The first case involved throwing eggs at a living person (Ma was Mayor of Taibei City at that time), the other case involved throwing eggs at a dead man’s picture (his remains lay in a nearby memorial hall), but the results were so different – both cases involved the law, but the difference was so enormous!
